Trump just tweeted out a fake science “study” from a white supremacist hate group

This morning, the President of the United States tweeted out a FOX News link to a New York Post link which tweets a “study” that purportedly proves how Donald Trump’s exorbitantly expensive and utterly useless $18 billion border wall will “pay for itself,” which conveniently excuses the president’s inability to force Mexico to pay for the wall, as he has promised over and over again.

It arrives at that conclusion by playing on deplorable racist stereotypes, arguing that the federal government will somehow save $18 billion by preventing the arrival of undocumented immigrants who will then leech off of our welfare system once they get settled in the United States.

“According to the Center for Immigration Studies, the $18 billion wall will pay for itself by curbing the importation of crime, drugs and illegal immigrants who tend to go on the federal dole…” https://t.co/NdLC6jZwWE

This study is one of the more prominent examples of “fake science” that is being created specifically to support the false premises of “fake news” stories, to distort the truth and to play on the liberal faith in scientific fact in order to give legitimacy and justification to racist and fascist agendas.

Activist and researcher Emily Gorcenski took to Twitter following Trump’s tweet to give a quick primer on fake science and share her own experience with the phenomenon.

So this "Center for Immigration Studies" tweet is an interesting intersection of my politics and my tech activism. I have a talk that I give on Fake Science sometimes.

This is a very specific subset of Data Science ethics. It also has come to intersect with my anti-white supremacy activism. There are groups like the Center for Immigration Research and the Ulster Institute for Social Research that have perfected this art.

The pattern goes like this: appropriate scientific language, naming conventions and the like. Find racist statisticians. Find data that has a kernel of truth to it, and then apply backhanded statistics until you arrive at the conclusions you want to arrive at.

But it's clear that it is working. Fake Science becomes a driver for legitimizing Fake News. And now Fake Science is being tweeted straight from the thumbs of the Presidency to legitimize racist, fascist policies.

Colin Taylor is the managing editor of the Washington Press. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice, equality, and universal health care in America.